The Common Milkweed: Butterflies & The Importance of Going Natural

As I mentioned in another entry previously, we decided to leave areas of our property not mowed so that we could see what grows naturally and its effect on local wildlife. So many "weeds" are quite beneficial and beautiful with flower displays. .

We want to keep our designated areas as natural as possible, identify those plants that seem beneficial, and then add other good sources of food and shelter as we need to, in order to "beautify" and expand the resources for our beloved animals. It's going to be a long process but I am glad we are starting this early so we can gradually attain our final goal of our own private wildlife preserve.

An area by our cess-pond (as I fondly call it) was mowed last year since the entire property was seriously overgrown (the previous owners used it only occasionally as a vacation home), but this year with David leaving it among our "test areas" we recently saw about 30 butterflies of different species engulfing plants with pinkish flowers, a Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca).

This native perennial plant is 2 - 6 feet tall (typically 3 - 4 feet tall) and unbranched, except sometimes toward the apex, where the flowers occur. The central stem is relatively stout, pale green, cylindrical and slightly tapered. The opposite leaves are up to 8" long and 3½" wide, broadly oblong in shape, and smooth along their margins. The upper leaf surface is pale-medium to dark green and hairless above, while the lower leaf surface is densely covered with woolly hairs that are very short. There is a prominent central vein along the length of each leaf, and finer side veins that radiate outward toward the smooth margins.

Umbels of flowers, each about 2½" - 4" across, emerge from the axils of the upper leaves. These flowers are quite fragrant, with a scent resembling violets or pansies, and they range in color from faded light pink to reddish purple. Each flower is about ¼" across, star-shaped in dense rounded clusters at top of straight stem. The hoods are more light-colored than the petals. The pedicels of the flowers are light green to pale red and hairy. The blooming period lasts about 1 - 1½ months from early to mid-summer (June, July, August). The seedpods (follicles) are 3" - 4" long and covered with soft prickles and short woolly hairs. At maturity, each seedpod split along one side to release numerous seeds that have large tufts of white hair, with dispersion of seed by wind. The root system has long creeping rhizomes, promoting the vegetative spread.

Common Milkweed occurs in every county of Illinois and it is quite common. Habitats include moist to dry black soil prairies, sand prairies, sand dunes along lake shores, thickets, woodland borders, fields and pastures, abandoned fields, vacant lots, fence rows, and areas along railroads and roadsides. This plant is a colonizer of disturbed areas in both natural and developed habitats.

The crown-like flowers of milkweeds are cunning traps for insect pollinators, second in their intricacy only to the orchids. Each blossom has five nectar cups with smooth, incurved horns growing from them. When an insect lands, its foot slips on a horn and goes into a slit between two cups. If the insect is not strong enough to pull its legs out, it dies there (or is eaten by another). If it is strong enough, it comes away carrying two bags of pollen, called pollinia, like saddlebags. At the next flower, its foot slips again; this time, as it picks up more pollinia, it deposits the first two beside the cups, where the pollen develops to fertilize future seeds.

When either the central stem or leaves are torn, a milky sap oozes out that has variable toxicity in the form of cardiac glycosides. The name milkweed refers to the milky white  sap, which contains bitter chemicals to protect the plants from predators. A few insects are immune to these poisons and accumulate them in their bodies, protecting themselves from their own predators. Monarch butterflies cannot complete their life cycles without milkweed. 

There is a legend of the Old West about a runty outlaw who drank rattlesnake venom every morning so he could kill a big man by spitting in his eye. Milkweeds furnish similar venom for Monarch butterflies. The leaves are poisonous to most animals, but Monarch caterpillars and a few others eat nothing else. As a result, they - and the butterflies they become - are themselves toxic to potential predators. The Viceroy butterfly benefits by its resemblance to the Monarch; predators tend to leave them alone. This is known as mimicry and is also true for other species as well, such as the Pipevine Swallowtail.

 

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And believe it or not, the milkweed can be used as food for human consumption, but please first note: Warning: ***Poisonous Parts***: Milky sap from leaves, stems (toxic only in large quantities). Symptoms include vomiting, stupor, weakness, spasms by ingesting other species; need careful identification.   

Edible Parts:  Leaves, new shoots, flower buds and firm seed pods. Gather leaves in early spring when they first open. Gather seed pods in summer. Parboil for three minutes, then discard bitter water and replace with clean boiling water. (Cold water tends to fix bitterness.) Repeat this process three times, then cook the leaves for 15 minutes before seasoning them. A pinch of soda can be added during cooking to break down the fiber and improve flavor.

The young shoots under six inches long, found during the spring are used as a vegetable. Remove the fuzz on the shoot by rubbing it off. Preparation is the same as for the leaves. Collect flower buds and flowers during the summer. Dip buds in boiling water for one minute, batter and deep fry. When cooked like broccoli, buds are similar to okra. The flower clusters may also be battered and fried. After cooking, buds, flowers and leaves can be frozen. Use like okra in soups. A bit of baking soda in the water will help break down the tough fibers in the seed pod. Parboiled for several minutes, the young pods may be slit, rolled in a cornmeal/flour mixture and fried or frozen for future use.

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Whether it's as a food source, shelter, or as a balance with other plant life, so much of our wildlife depends on them! When I was a kid walking the soybean and corn fields on my dad's farm, though, this was one of the plants I detested trying to get out the most! They seemed impossible to cut or pull and it usually ended up with my brother-in-law forced to cross over row upon row of crop to help me. Hey, I was only a little kid! haha That sap was no fun when it got on you either! 

As for the butterflies that David photographed on the milkweeds, I will be posting separately about them so that I can provide some (hopefully) interesting facts about each. I can't believe the massive butterflies around here, I can see them halfway across the property! The eastern tiger swallowtail, spicebush swallowtail, and great spangled fritillary (to name a few) certainly add to the colorful beauty around our home, and deserve their own featured entries.

And for a quick update on our "pet" birds, we haven't seen bluejays or cowbirds for quite a while, and this was true last year as well. We are seeing more cardinals and their young, many goldfinches and indigo buntings (which I am very happy about!). The goldfinches and buntings are in the "weed" patches often, and those natural areas appear to have attracted greater numbers of them. The hummingbird charm (who also like milkweed by the way!) is in full force and going through our sugar like crazy. Our summer thus far has been hot but with some cooler temps mixed in, and lovely rains that we missed out on last year during our drought. It's just about 80F today and sunny, another gorgeous day in the Shawnee Forest.

Until next time...

 

 

A fine selection for your bird viewing pleasure

Today is another perfect day, in the mid-80s, just a bit warmer than yesterday...barely a cloud in the sky and a slight breeze. Ahhhhhhh!

We sat out on the front deck for supper last night; joining us were the usual throngs of cowbirds swarming the feeder and the hummingbirds. It's very difficult to count how many hummingbirds are around now, we think four males and at least one female. The reason it's difficult is due to the "hummingbird wars", they're getting even more territorial. One waits and guards the nectar nearby and once it sees another, ZOOMS after it and promptly goes back to its perch after getting a sip of nectar with an "it's mine!" attitude. It must be exhausting!

The thought of moving about while on the deck is not a good one; it isn't that the hummingbirds are going for you, it's if you move in their path when they're trying to get somewhere! They are so very fast I'm afraid they won't have time to adjust their flight path if I move at all.

We have so many photos David has taken since we moved here in October 2011 and I have been going back through them, finally organizing them, and want to share some of those here today. I decided to have a peek at "a year ago today" to see what was going on at the time. Having been a cooler winter/spring than normal is apparent...we already had our pool set up by this time last year!

For instance, we had also already seen (on this day, last year) an Indigo Bunting, one of our breeding visitors, but haven't seen one around here this year. *sniffle*

A female Cardinal peeking in...

 

Here it appears to be a young one...

 

What we reckon to be an Eastern Kingbird was also visiting us this day (at bottom of tree, ignore the cowbird at the top!), another breeding visitor. David thinks he has some photos of one nesting around here somewhere. Stay tuned, someday I may find them!

Do I spy with my little eye, an Orchard Oriole? From what I can tell, this appears to be a first year male perched in one of our trees (another breeding visitor).

 

And, wow, Miss Cardinal, talk about a bad hair day! Get to the beauty shop girl!

I guess that sounded like a good idea!

And, what's this...a Least Flycatcher? If so, they are migratory visitors here. You are so named unless I find out differently. Welcome!

 

 

One reason I think we have a Least Flycatcher is the whitish eye ring, seen better in the photo below: 

Nothing to see here, Turkey Vulture, move along...

A female Cowbird...how unusual *rolls eyes* Actually, though...in looking at the huge flock, out of around 30 to 40 birds, I only saw 2 or 3 female, the rest were males.

Meanwhile, back at the beauty salon the Cardinal must be heading to, there is a Chipping Sparrow already there.

I'm sure it will look great once it's dry... 

A Blue Jay flies off with what must be a very special seed...unless it's running late for the beauty salon!

Oh, here's the Cardinal arriving at the beauty salon now...

Later, we find our Cardinal couple out for a nice meal.

Female: "Do you notice *chirp* anything different? *chirp*?

Male: "Um, no, what?" *chirp*

Female: "I went to the beauty shop, for all you care! *chirp* You never notice anything!!! *chirp chirp*

Male: (thinking to self) "Oh, no, what have I done...." *gulp* *chirp*

Male: "Well, you never appreciate anything I do! I take you out for a nice meal and this is the thanks I get!" *chirp chirp chirp* 

 

Oh, dear, I hope it wasn't the end of their relationship, as it is for the end of today's post!

Until next time...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A birding day!

Today is an exciting one for David, our new lawn mower has arrived! Although it's been entertaining watching the cats hopping over the tall bits of weeds and grass...

 

...it will be good to give it a good trim! For today's post, I'm going to review yesterday's birder shots. David did usual rounds and gathered the following photos, but first he spotted a heron and otter near Bay Creek (they are actually in a water-covered field here!) while he was out later in the day. The water in said field is now gone today.

Eastern Bluebird

 

 Hey, that's not a bird, but is beautiful :)

 Turkey Vulture flying overhead

Cowbirds trying to crowd out a male cardinal on the feeder 

Blue Jays on feeder with one showing off! 

  Male cardinal with two white-throated sparrows

 Female cardinal joins the white-throated sparrows for some food

 Another view of the blue jays...they sure can swarm the food, seeing only two is surprising!

 The female cardinal looks as if she is on alert, show off that crest girl!

 A cowbird perches, waiting for the right moment to knock another bird off the feeder no doubt!

 Awwww, a female hummingbird getting a sip...

...and one of the males

 Our neighborhood killdeer

 Ah. Common sight...cowbirds eating us out of house and home! The lighter-colored bird is the female cowbird. We were eating supper out on our front deck the other night, watching them on the feeder (again!) and saw one puff up his chest at one of the other cowbirds, give it one of their unusual "clucks" and chest-butted him off the feeder! For a few seconds anyway.

 We love our red-bellied woodpeckers; this is the male, we call him Cyril. His wife is Sylvia (I'm sure you'll be seeing her soon)

 

 White-throated sparrows have the sweetest happy song. If you haven't heard it, go to the Birds tab and click on the link to hear it.

In case you haven't noticed, we love cardinals. The male is chowing down on our deck. Well, not the deck itself, but the food on the deck.

 

The blue jay is finding this a tough nut to crack!

 I guess this is a good place to say "the end" for the day, isn't it? :)